Suchergebnisse

In the context of Makassar, on the eastern Indonesian island of Sulawesi, the book explores the socioeconomic and cultural relationships that make life for small entrepreneurs in Makassar so distinctive. Using a new framework for the study of small enterprises - the 'small enterprise integrative framework' - this book gives us a greater understanding of the organization and operations of small enterprises in developing countries, at both the micro and macro levels. The application of this new framework for research reveals the diversity of labour flexibility, networking and cluster styles amon

Within the rapidly transforming city of Hanoi, Vietnam's capital, lies the Ancient Quarter, home to a broad array of small entrepreneurs and traders since the 13th century. Utilising a longitudinal study approach, supported by a livelihoods framework, this paper investigates the impacts of both historical political and economic policies and current market economic reforms on Ancient Quarter trader livelihoods. Drawing on oral histories with elderly residents and interviews with current traders, it analyses the influence of French colonial rule and the First Indochina War, before turning to ascertain the consequences of the socialist period and the Second Indochina War. By doing so, the paper reveals the diverse livelihood strategies that traders have put in place to survive through these turbulent times.

Turner reviews Securing A Place: Small-Scale Artisans in Modern Indonesia by Elizabeth Morrell.

Intro -- Title Page -- Dedication -- Epigraph -- Contents -- Preface -- 1: The Miners' Welfare Fund is conceived 1919-1920 -- 2: First Quinquennium 1921-1926 -- 3: Second Quinquennium 1926-1931 -- 4: The Committee becomes the Commission 1932-1939 -- 5: The War Years 1940-1945 -- 6: Safety in Mines Research Board -- 7: Education -- 8: Recreation -- 9: Health -- 10: Pithead Welfare -- 11: The Final Years 1946-1952 -- Appendices -- APPENDIX 1 SECRETARIES FOR MINES 1921-1942, MINISTERS OF FUEL AND POWER 1942-1952 -- APPENDIX 2 CHAIRMAN OF THE MINERS' WELFARE COMMITTEE AND COMMISSION -- APPENDIX 3 SECRETARIES TO THE MINERS' WELFARE COMMITTEE AND COMMISSION -- APPENDIX 4 REPRESENTATIVES OF MINERS' UNIONS ON THE COMMITTEE AND COMMISSION -- Acknowledgements -- Abbreviations -- List of Illustrations -- Index -- Copyright.

Since its inception over two millennia ago, the spice trade has connected and transformed the environments, politics, cultures, and cuisines of vastly different societies around the world. The 'magical' qualities of spices mean they offer more than a mere food flavoring, often evoking memories of childhood events or specific festivals. Although spices are frequently found in our kitchen cupboards, how they get there has something of a mythical allure. In this ethnographically rich and insightful study, the authors embark on a journey of demystification that starts in the Sino-Vietnamese uplands with three spices – star anise, black cardamom, and cassia (cinnamon) – and ends on dining tables across the globe. This book foregrounds the experiences of ethnic minority farmers cultivating these spices, highlighting nuanced entanglements among livelihoods, environment, ethnic identity, and external pressures, as well as other factors at play. It then investigates the complex commodity chains that move and transform these spices from upland smallholdings and forests in this frontier to global markets, mapping the flows of spices, identifying the numerous actors involved, and teasing out critical power imbalances. Finally, it focuses on value-creation and the commoditization of these spices across a spectrum of people and places. This rich and carefully integrated volume offers new insights into upland frontier livelihoods and the ongoing implications of the contemporary agrarian transition. Moreover, it bridges the gap in our knowledge regarding how these specific spices, cultivated for centuries in the mountainous Sino-Vietnamese uplands, become everyday ingredients in Global North food, cosmetics, and medicines. Links to online resources, including story maps, provide further insights and visual highlights.

AbstractWhile visual methods have been employed in research regarding human‐animal relationships and entanglements, the possible benefits of utilizing drawing elicitation have not been explored to date. Our study utilizes drawing elicitation with Hmong and Mien (Yao) ethnic minority farmers in the northern Vietnamese borderlands. We aim to investigate human‐animal relationships within these communities, considering their longstanding socio‐economic and spiritual entanglements with a number of domesticated animals. Simultaneously, we aim to assess the benefits and drawbacks of employing drawing elicitation in the context of more‐than‐human research in the Global South. Through the drawing exercises, participants not only conveyed important insights into human‐animal entanglements within these rural uplands, resulting in nuanced and at times highly emotive drawings, but they also provided reflections on the drawing activity itself. Despite challenges faced in encouraging drawing within a semiliterate population, our findings, guided by participant feedback, reveal numerous possibilities for employing this approach in more‐than‐human research.

Since the 1990s, several Vietnamese state policies have focused on whole-heartedly integrating upland ethnic minority farmers into the market economy. These policies revolve around interventions related to natural resource use, agricultural intensification, and cash-cropping, in a quest to produce 'ideal farmers.' Simultaneously, the growing frequency of extreme weather extremes has been impacting upland livelihoods in important ways. Consequently, farmers must now navigate an increasingly complex socio-political and natural environment when making livelihood decisions. This study focuses on a mountainous district in the Sino-Vietnamese borderlands. Through in-depth qualitative fieldwork with ethnic minority semi-subsistence farmers and local officials, we delve into the ways in which farmers respond to the unpredictable interplay of state interventions and extreme weather events. Rooted in contemporary political ecology debates, we adopt a multi-scalar approach while drawing on actor-oriented livelihood conceptualizations. Our findings show that the Vietnamese state has failed to convince upland farmers to fully commit to state-endorsed cash-cropping schemes. Yet, farmers do not necessarily reject such opportunities outright. Rather, they navigate and rework state-supported opportunities, all while remaining acutely attuned to local physical environment limits, important social networks, and cultural norms and expectations.